By the way, I highly recommend reading the Hacker’s Diet for anyone who wants to manage their weight but not able or willing to undergo bariatric surgery. It’s completely free and online at the link above.

So yesterday (January 22nd for those of you keeping score) I weighed 245.1 according to my Withings WS-50 Smart Body Analyzer. Sure that’s neat because it represents over 25 pounds lost from my starting range of 271. But it’s even cooler.

When I first started weighing myself over a decade ago I was using an old spinny type of scale. The kind you’d see on a sitcom where there’s a dial inside that spins when you step on it. First it goes way high and the sitcom actor gasps in horror, then it bounces down to way low, and the sitcom rejoices. It bouces back and forth before settling on the correct weight.

My scale worked the same way, laugh track and everything. At first I was weighing myself on carpet which messes up the scale by cushioning it. I am pretty sure the scale was designed with a maximum of 250 pounds even though the dial went higher. At the time I figured that if the dial went to 300, then the warning on the package was over cautious. Or, full of shit, in modern parlance.

The scale had an adjuster I’d turn to ensure it was centered on zero before weighing myself. Over time it took more and more adjustment to get it to zero. Eventually no amount of adjustment would zero out the scale. I have no idea why it took me six months to notice the problem. To my credit, when I did notice a problem I promptly threw a fit.

So, with that explanation out of the way, here’s the big news:

Prior to yesterday, my previous record was 246 pounds. That number is almost certainly too low, but absent any better data I’m going with it. Never in the intervening 10 years has my weight dropped that low again. Until now.